


I'll Be There for You

by feelin_the_aster



Category: Batman (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics), Red Hood: Lost Days, Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Fluff, Minor Injuries, Protective Siblings, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-20
Updated: 2017-05-20
Packaged: 2018-11-02 18:33:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10950327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feelin_the_aster/pseuds/feelin_the_aster
Summary: An injury reveals that Damian is more protective than Jason realized.





	I'll Be There for You

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta-read so apologies :P

Jason winced, hearing the careful footsteps of his smallest brother. He’d really meant to be out of the cave before he’d have to deal with the aftermath of the patrol.

“Hey, Damian,” Jason greeted.

Damian, however, seemed to take no notice, rather he dashed accusatorily toward Jason.

“Todd! What is the meaning of your behavior?” Damian demanded, his face serious as ever.

Jason considered. “Are you asking literally?”

“Your recklessness on patrol nearly cost you your miserable life and you…” Damian paused, searching for the right word. “You… scamper off like it’s nothing and then Grayson has to drag you here like some sort of wounded animal!”

Jason, whether it was from the hit he took on the head or the knife to the shoulder or because he had regrettably grown rather attached to his siblings, found himself feeling guilty.

“I’m sorry, Damian.  I guess I’m not used to having people care. I know that sounds self-deprecating but it’s not, I promise.”

Damian mulled this answer over, joining Jason on the gurney he had been ordered to remain on.

“You will stay here tonight”

It wasn’t a question, or a demand, just a fact simply stated.

Jason blamed the blood loss for the fact that he found himself putting his arm around Damian and bringing the boy’s head to rest on his chest.

“Do not, under any circumstance, inform Drake about this.”

Jason chuckled. “As long as you don’t tell Dick.”

 

They stayed like that for more time than they realized and before long, Jason heard yet another brother approach.

Still in his Nightwing garb, Dick quietly moved into Jason’s line of sight. 

“How’s the pain?” Dick asked directly.

Jason did his best to shrug without disturbing the sleeping bird in his arms.

Dick shifted his weight, not bothering to hide his discomfort, before sitting down across from the gurney..  “You almost died, Jason.” He reiterated, “You matter to me, to Tim, to Damian, Alfred,”  _ to Bruce. _ “Please. Please think of that next time.”

Jason wanted to argue, wanted to be angry. That’s what he was used to, that’s what he knew how to deal with. This was different. This was uncharted territory.

“Okay,” Jason relented. “I promise. Next time, I’ll come here, or see Leslie, and if I can’t, I’ll call you or the Replacement.”

Dick seemed satisfied for the moment. “I assume you’re leaving now that you can stand?”

Jason looked pointedly at Damian. “Actually I’m pretty sure there hasn’t been any blood flow to my leg in forty minutes and I promised Dami I’d stay tonight.

“I’m glad he doesn’t just pull that stuff with me.”

“What, the big eyes and the pouty lips? That works on you?”

“Works on you too if you’re still here.”

Jason grinned. Not the usual, fox-like sneer that cut through his face when he felt cornered, rather a soft lift of the corners of his lips that made him look much too old and weathered for a twenty-something boy.

“He actually likes you, you know,” Dick continued. “Not in a ‘you’re my brother so I have to love you,’ kind of way, but in a willing way. I think he thinks you’re cool.”

“That’s terrifying, you know that right?”

Dick laughed, his smile brightening the room. Jason missed that laugh. It happened all too rarely now.

Damian shifted sleepily against Jason’s chest before opening his eyes at half mast.

Dick’s smile became suddenly maternal as he leaned to brush Damian’s hair out of his face. Damian didn’t resist revealing how exhausted he really was. “I think it’s time for bed, don’t you, Jay?”

Jason nodded seriously. “I, for one, am fatigued. You might have to carry me, Dicky-bird.”

“You don’t want me manhandling you up the stairs with that shoulder wound, believe me,” Dick replied, taking Damian from Jason’s arms and beginning the trek to the bedrooms.

Jason followed, hindered only slightly by the fact that his leg had really fallen asleep.

 

Jason nearly jumped out of bed hearing the door to his room creak open. Luckily he saws his smallest brother’s shadow before he jarred his shoulder any further.

Groggily, Jason rubbed his eyes. “What’s wrong, Dami?”

Damian didn’t reply, remaining in the doorway.

“Come in, Damian, and close the door behind you.”

Damian did as he was instructed and made his way to the foot of Jason’s bed.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

Damian shook his head. “I was just making sure you were still…”

“Alive?”

Damian nodded.

Jason sighed, patting the space beside him, beckoning his brother to sit. Damian obliged, curling up like a cat next to Jason.

Jason put his arm over Damian and tilted his head so he could make eye contact.

“Damian, look at me,” Jason said, firmly but gently. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Not even when you fight with father?”

“Not even when I fight with dad. I might not be here every night, but if you ever need me, I will try my best to be here. I promise.”

“Even if it’s Drake that I need help with?”

“Let me make one thing clear,” Jason responded in mock severity. “I will never leave you to deal with Tim alone.”

Damian nodded, deadly serious. “We will destroy him together.”

“By ‘destroy him’ you mean like switch his sugar with salt and his coffee with dirt, right?”

“That is genius,” Damian whispered. “We will be unstoppable.”

  
Jason listened to Damian breathe until he was sure he was asleep, then finally slept himself. Ironically, he could hear the robins outside chirping by the time he closed his eyes.


End file.
